Night's Apprentice
by Dragon Courage
Summary: Slade murdered Robin's parents when he was little and steals Robin for his apprentice as a baby, but what happens when Robin meets the bb cy star and raven who are trained by batman as opposition. read along and watch as walls crumble, cages shatter, and birds fly content is actually a lot darker major AU
1. Chapter 1

Slade leapt through the night, cool air hissing past his cloaked form, as he made his getaway. This prototype laser cannon was brilliantly engineered, it could fit in the palm of his hand. The idiots who ran the lab probably would not notice it was gone till the next morning. Slade leapt up onto a spire of a church and perched, musing his good fortune and future. He was doing rather well, no competitors, no enemies, and best of all, no heroes. The city didn't even know he was there.

Slade had been in Jump city for two months now. At first, he was just in Jump for the Tech Flight suit he had stolen several weeks ago, but as time went on, he was becoming more welcoming to the idea of setting his permanent base here, in Jump.

Slade twisted his position, getting a better grip on the spire. His future looked bright and bursting with opportunities. A base in Jump, all the tech labs, all the banks. Jump was practically one big fig tree, _drooping_ with ripe gain and riches.

And, yet, there was something missing. Something substantial. Something vital. But Slade couldn't figure out what it was. He realized that he wanted some sort of legacy. To be remembered, at least somewhat. Slade's first thought was some sort of calling card, but he dismissed that almost immediately. The only thieves who did that sort of thing were idiots and members of the show-boater club, and, besides, calling card thieves were quickly forgotten. So were acts of hostage and terrorism.

Slade decided that in order to have a legacy he would need some sort of living, breathing proof of his existence. A son. Slade shook his head as he realized how idiotic that notion was. Slade wasn't even capable of emotion, not after what had happened many years ago. No, he didn't need a needy brat to care for. He needed an apprentice.

However, while thinking over such things was fine and swell, there was the dilemma of actually finding one such person. He couldn't exactly just put up an add in the newspaper. And also, Slade thought, if it was a teenager they would be too independent. He needed to find a young child and mold them into the thief and assassin he wanted. So in essence he probably needed a child around the age of two or three.

Slade leapt from his perch, satisfied in his plannings for now and continued his trip to his layer.

Another night, another successful theft. Life was good. It had been two weeks since Slade decided he wanted an apprentice. Now, he was returning to the layer, satisfied at yet another successful heist. They just didn't build security systems like they used to.

He was almost there, just passing one of the many parks when he was forced to slow his pace. In the middle of the park stood a large, multi-colored circus tent. Around the tent people in bright and gaudy costumes prepared for the show, leading animals, practicing acts, and raising other tents and attractions.

Slade crept closer, his curiosity getting the best of him. It had been a very long time since Slade had seen one such show. He wondered what it was that the normal, mundane world was into. It never hurt to know such things.

He leapt and slunk his way until he was nearly directly above them, perched on an old street post that never seemed to be turned on or fixed. Below him, were the trapeze. Graceful forms flit across the ropes, tight ropes, and sticks held by yet more ropes. Slade allowed himself to feel an inkling of respect for the dare devils as they leapt and swung fifty feet up in the air, with only a flimsy net in between them and the unforgiving ground. Eventually, the actors left to go prepare for the show in other ways.

Slade was about to leave, having seen enough, when two more actors walked onto the field of deathtraps. No, three, Slade corrected himself. There was a child trailing behind the two adults. Around four or so, the child made Slade curious. Surely, the little boy would not be practicing with who Slade assumed were his parents. It was far too dangerous.

But, indeed the child was. The boy leapt and flipped through the air. He was graceful and coordinated. Completely focused on his task. His parents, while they remained near him, didn't seem too worried about the possibility that he would fall.

Slade watched, stunned. He had seen similar feats of such dexterity before, of course. The trapeze artists that had been practicing before were better, although not by too far. But, here was a boy of no older than four, competing with the forces of gravity and physics.

It was preposterous, and yet, here it was. Slade remembered his previous musings on attaining an apprentice. Throughout the time since his decision, he had looked for a suitable apprentice, but all the children he came across were stupid, weak, cowardly, or simply little brats.

This boy was a little skinny, but that would probably be out-grown. Yes, this could end very well, and Slade allowed himself a small smirk beneath his mask as he considered his wonderful fortunes.

He wished for a new town and a new base, and there it was. He wished for an apprentice, and the Universe provided. His luck was truly looking up. The very world catered to his fancies. And all without that ridiculous Bat knowing a single thing. Stupid Bat, thought Slade, as he remembered his previous encounter with the knight. And all that planning wasted.

But not this time, this time Slade was king of tactics. He found his apprentice, his lair, and his new base. This was Slade's time, and boy, was he going to use it, too.

Slade crept down from his perch, eyes never leaving his young prey, as the family climbed down from the death traps, finished warming up and excited for the show. A well aimed kick to the head and a snapping of the neck of the mother, and the boy was his for the taking, a newly pronounced orphan.

The little child stared at him with wide eyes, mouth open in disbelief and horror. Slade stepped forward swiftly, and placed a gag upon the boy's mouth, lest he scream and alert the rest of the circus troop.

Slade hefted the child over his shoulder and leapt to the rooftops. He angled his way to the layer, pleased to have acquired such a rare find.

Dick Grayson wasn't your average toddler. He was, but then he wasn't. Dick was of average height and weight, if a little skinny and light. But, his mind, oh, his mind! He was rather brilliant. His parents knew as well, or at least, they found out when visiting a good friend who was a rocket scientist.

Dick had been left in the man's study, while the family friend, James Potter, toured the parents around the house. Imagine their surprise, when, upon returning to the study, they find their son completing a complex equation on the black board which stood in the back of the room. James almost fainted in shock, as he had been working on that equation for the better part of two months and had almost given up hope on it. And, yet, here was this little tot, barely three years old, finishing the thing and grinning as though he was playing with toys instead of making history with a complex equation that could solve the world's energy problem. Although the energy solution turned out to be a bust for powering anything except toasters, for some strange reason which no one figured out; little Dick's parents understood then that Dick was a genius of unchallenged smarticus.

As such they realized in turn that they wanted to protect him until he was wise enough to know what to do with all his genius. They already lived in a circus, so they already homeschooled him, or they would have, if he had needed it. But, they instructed him to only do things, like the black board incident, around good friends; luckily, the scientist agreed to take Dick's secret with him to the grave.

Now, as Dick climbed the ladder to join his parents on the trapeze, he reviewed the table of elements and what each one was used for in his head. Doing this was a good way to focus when doing something so requiring of it.

Dick reached the top and swung off the platform to join his parents in the air. They were practically flying! Dick loved the feeling of the wind on his soft baby cheeks. His mother and father remained near him, lest he fall. He felt all warm inside, thinking about how much his parents loved him. As long as he was with them, he was safe.

Which reminded him, today was the day! today he would perform with his parents for the first time ever! Of course, it would just be on the small set, he had never been before a large crowd and his parents said he might catch stage fright. He didn't know if he would be frightened or not, but he knew that his parents would be there with him, no matter what.

Table of elements, he sternly reminded himself, it would be horrid if he fell for lack of concentration. Flip, spin, and flip again.

Eventually all the Graysons were on the ground, and Dick's parents were talking about how they hoped to get a raise. But, then Dick started, seeing something creeping towards them. It looked like a man, except he was wearing something akin to a Halloween costume, with an orange and black mask.

As soon as the man noticed that Dick had seen him, he leapt forward. Dick watched, horrified as the man made short work of his parents. The images of his dead parents would forever haunt his worst nightmares. His Daddy was lying, eyes rolled into the back of his head, bleeding profusely from a gash on the side of his head. Dick's Mommy was sprawled out, her body twisted impossibly at the neck, thankfully, her head was turned away, hiding her blank, dead look from her baby boy.

The man moved towards Dick, as the boy tried to run, but he couldn't seem to move his legs. Dick couldn't even close his mouth, for goodness sakes! He was frozen as the _killer_ of his parents strode confidently towards him, picked him up, gagged him, and sedated him using a needle of some sort. It didn't hurt, not much more than a bee sting, but it filled the boy with terror as darkness gathered on the edge of his vision.

Dick's fear doubled as the bad man took him away from his parents. His last glimpse of daylight for a long time was of his dead parents lying still on the park grass, before the darkness took him.

**this is really more of a teaser to see if anyone likes it, if i get a reasonable amount of reviews i will continue, if not, this story goes the way of dead , love it, hate it, please let me know! **


	2. Chapter 2

Ten years later….

Slade looked over the charts and stats over the last ten years of his apprentice. Robin, as Slade had renamed the boy, was the perfect student. Not only was he stronger, faster, and far smarter than any other child his age, he didn't appear to have retained even an inkling of memory of his parents.

Over the last ten years, Slade had kept Robin a secret from the entire world. Since the day of his parents' death, it was fairly safe to say that Robin had not seen the light of day. Even when Slade moved the Layer- he was very cautious after all-, he had the boy drugged and stuffed in a special box that could be easily seen as a couch or something. The box was then shipped to the new layer, inconspicuously containing both boy and sedation drip- to keep the boy under, of course. While Robin would indoubtedly have a few new bruises from the trip, it was a small price to pay to keep the child as an apprentice.

Some other criminal masterminds will ask, 'Why all this?' Not even the Cold villians were so frosty with their young successors. The answer was simple, teenager. Once Robin had turned thirteen, as if understanding that he was soon coming into his maturity and full prowess, he had begun fighting back. Before, he had merely been following orders, like a good little boy-killer-in-training. Then, he had been kept out of sight for protection.

Now, Robin was making snide and derogatory remarks about everything Slade told him to do. Sometimes, he would flat out refuse to do something. Becoming more frequent, now, were the occasions on which Slade would have to strike his apprentice, and, occasionally- as in, once a month, when he got his confidence and courage back- beat him into submission.

When questioned on why, Robin would simply shrug and avert his eyes. Recently he did that a lot. Even before he had turned thirteen, Robin had never spoken more than a handful of words, but now he was almost completely silent. Not that Slade minded, he wasn't a talkative person himself, he simply did not appreciate and would not tolerate Robin's new attitude, no matter what age he was.

Which brought Slade to his current predicament, perhaps Robin was simply frustrated by his lack of activity and wanted to be, finally, allowed on his first, real, outside mission. In all rights, Robin was skilled. He was very skilled. But, Slade wasn't sure he wanted his successor in the lime light just yet. Both for training and scheming reasons, he wanted to stay incognito.

For the last ten years, Slade had been almost absolutely silent in the ripples of the world of villains-vs-heroes. He had listened. He had schemed. And, most importantly of all, he had trained Robin to the bone.

The question remained, should Slade allow Robin to go out? Even if Slade went out with him, there was still a chance of Robin being seen somehow. That could not happen. If the league, or a local police officer, even, saw a highly skilled teen stealing high profile items, they would wonder who Robin was and how he was trained.

Obviously, that could not happen. But, if Robin persisted with his rebel attitude, Slade's plans could be put behind schedule, after all, the boy was the key, in more ways than one.

Slade sighed. He would just have to move his plans along a little sooner than he thought.

**you guys really liked my teaser, so i think i will continue this story, thx for all your reviews, they were very helpful:)**

**as for any Rob star, i haven't got the pairings down, but i'll probably have Robin with her at the end**

**happy late 4th by the way:) -shoots off incredibly late fire work and blows noise maker-**


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